Singapore Airlines (SIA) saw its cargo load factor for December drop 6.8 percentage points to 55.2 per cent from 62 per cent a year earlier while passenger load factor dropped 4.4 percentage points to 79.9 per cent from a year earlier. As a result of the falling demand the carrier is cancelling more than 200 flights from now until the end of March.In a circular to travel agents earlier this week, SIA said it would reduce the number of flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou in China, as well as to the Indian cities of Mumbai and New Delhi.

Travellers heading to the Australian cities of Perth, Sydney and Brisbane, as well as those bound for London and Zurich will also have fewer options to choose from.In all, 214 flights will be cut - comprising less than three per cent of the airline's total, but a key indicator of where SIA sees the market heading. In all, 214 flights will be cut - comprising less than three per cent of the airline's total, but a key indicator of where SIA sees the market heading. ---------------------------------------------

Singapore Airlines: Australian, Japanese Cities To Be First For New A330 Operations

PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdgeSingapore Airlines will introduce its new Airbus A330-300 regional aircraft on routes to Australian and Japanese cities, progressively. The first of 19 new A330-300s will be delivered to Singapore Airlines by Airbus in mid-January. Initially, the aircraft will be used to complete pilot conversion, and thereafter, operate some short sectors between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore and Jakarta, during late February and March.

Its full entry into commercial service will occur on 30 March 2009, and to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the commencement of SingaporeAirlines flights between the two cities, the first route will be between Singapore and Brisbane. From April, services between Singapore and Perth will be progressively converted from the existing B777 operations to A330; conversion will be completed in May. The daily flightbetween Adelaide and Singapore will be converted by June.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to start operating the Airbus A380 to Paris in June.TheStar Alliance carrier says the French capital's Charles de GaulleAirport will be served with its A380s each day from 1 June, replacingexisting 10-times-weekly Boeing 777-300ER flights.SIA currentlyoperates six A380s and it will be able to use the larger aircraft forParis services after taking delivery of its seventh and eighth of thetype in the first half of this year.It currently uses the A380 for daily services to Sydney, daily services to Tokyo and twice-daily services to London Heathrow.http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/01/19/321256/sia-to-use-a380-for-paris-services.html

Singapore Airlines and Changi fall on hard times Thursday, 29 January 2009

Centre For Asia Pacific Aviation

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced further network cuts amid softening demand for travel across its network until the end of Mar-09, with the exception of the Middle East, where it is adding capacity to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Cairo and Dubai.

SIA is reducing capacity to India and Europe and is cutting frequency on the all-Business Class Los Angeles and Newark non-stop routes from daily to five times weekly on each route.

According to SIA, the Tuesday and Wednesday services, where demand is lowest, will be suspended - with some media reports this week suggesting load factors in the 30s on some flights.

An airline spokesman stated, "we don't want to be flying half-empty planes around the world any longer than we have to, because it increases our cost burden at a time when we can least afford that".

Further capacity cuts have not been ruled out by SIA.

Changi in the doldrums

The cuts come as the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) released figures showing passenger numbers at Changi Airport fell in three of the last four months of 2008, taking the full year tally to 37.7 million, up 2.7%. Air freight volumes continued to plummet as the global economic slowdown accelerated late in the year, with volumes down 21.4% in Dec-08.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) plans to cut 17 aircraft from its fleet inthe coming fiscal year and the airline's management met with unionstoday to warn that this will result in some redundant resources."Wewill only contemplate retrenchment as a last resort but we do not havethe luxury of time and we need to agree and act on some measuresquickly so that we can push back the point of retrenchment as soon aspossible and improve our chances of avoiding it altogether," SIA saysin a statement today.It says management met with three employeeunions today to discuss measures such as voluntary retirement, shorterwork months, accelerated clearance of leave and leave without pay."If there are to be cuts in salary, the management will be the first to take them," it adds.SIA says the market is shrinking and it has to cut capacity but as a consequence there will be redundant resources.The falling demand for travel is reflected in forward bookings, it adds.SIA says in the April 2009 to March 2010 fiscal year it will cut capacity by 11%. It previously said it expected growth of 1%.Italso says during the fiscal year 17 aircraft will be "decommissioned"whereas before the economic downturn it was planning to remove fouraircraft from service.An SIA spokesman was unable to say whichaircraft will be decommissioned. But SIA has said previously that itwill be the Boeing 747-400s and older Boeing 777s that will leave thefleet first.CEO Chew Choon Seng says in today's statement: "We have to face the reality that 2009 is going to be a difficult year."Headds: "We have to act decisively to address the situation" and aredetermined to have capacity that will "enable the airline to be viablein a shrinking market".

Singapore International Airlines has decided to stick to its guns on its 'no-commission' stance to travel agents, even as the latter claim that the airline's sales have gone down by 80 per cent in the last fortnight.About 2000 travel agents across the country are not selling the airline's tickets in protest against the decision not to pay any commission.

SIA, however, says it has not been impacted by the boycott. "There is no change in our zero commission stance," said Chai Woo Foo, General Manager, Singapore Airlines, India.

Foo, however, admits to loads being lower than last year on all routes. However, its outlook in India continues to be positive.

There will be a temporary reduction of one flight per week from Delhi between January 22 to March 25 and two flights per week from Mumbai between January 27 to March 26.

"But this is part of the overall network wide review to adjust the capacity in the short term to current demand; including flights to East Asia, Australia and Europe," he added.

Protesting the non-payment of a commission of 5 per cent on ticket sales by airlines to travel agents in India, around 2000 agents and online travel portals associated with agents associations like Travel Agents Federation of India, Travel Agents Association of India, IATA Agents Association of India among others decided to boycott sales of Singapore tickets in India from December 29.

Singapore Airlines saw passenger loads stabilise in April but said on Friday there were no signs demand would pick up in an industry reeling from fuel costs and flu worries.

Dit simplement et clairement ! Où est le problème ?

......."The main issue now is not swine flu but the recession. I believe that discounted air fares will continue for at least another six to nine months," said Roger Tan of SIAS Research. "There may be a correction ahead for SIA."Singapore Airlines said on Friday it filled 63.7 percent of the space available, down 3.8 percentage points from a year ago but up from 62.6 percent in March. It has cut capacity and staff hours on falling passenger and cargo demand this year..

Transparence.

But it said it would not change its business model, which is geared more towards the premium travel sector, and would stick to this year's plan to take delivery of five Airbus A380-800 superjumbos and seven A330-300s despite the slowdown..

Courageux et honnête ! Le Groupe s'y est préparé !

Its plans to expand into China are on hold in the short-term since it will not revive stalled talks over an investment in China Eastern Airlines, a move that would have given it access to the hottest growth market in aviation."We still maintain an interest in having the opportunity to participate in the airline investment in China. The immediate situation that we have before us, our hands are full, therefore it's not a burning priority," chief executive Chew Choon Seng said at a briefing on Friday..

Clair, aussi ! Dit avec simplicité !

Last year, Singapore Airlines, along with majority shareholder Temasek, offered USD$920 million for a combined 24 percent stake in China Eastern, but the Chinese carrier's shareholders rejected the bid and it also faced strong opposition from Air China."It seems like they are losing market share, I think that's our key concern," said an airline analyst at a bank in Hong Kong, who declined to be identified. "I think (China) would be a good idea, that's the fastest growing market."

Singapore Airlines on Thursday reported a 92 percent drop in net profit for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March, hit by the weak travel market and fuel hedging losses of about USD$370 million..

Dur, ... mais la présentation e le mérite d'être claire !

Many airlines increased their hedging of fuel costs when oil prices soared last year, but were burned, having locked in fuel supplies at over USD$100 a barrel, when oil slid back to under USD$50 this year.Chew said the airline hedged only a quarter of its fuel requirements for the current 2009/10 financial year.(Reuters).

Singapore Airlines will fly the A380 to Hong Kong beginning July 9. The daily flight will replace an existing 777-300ER frequency and will bring to five the number of airports served by SIA's A380 fleet (Sydney, London Heathrow, Tokyo Narita and Paris Charles de Gaulle). It operates five daily SIN-HKG flights.

Singapore Airlines is to begin re-fitting several of its Boeing 777-300 aircraft with new first and business class seating later this month.

A total of seven B777-300s will be fitted with “the airline’s most recent cabin offerings”, including new seats in business and first class, improvements to the economy class product, and in-flight entertainment enhancements.

First class will see the current 18 seats replaced with eight fully-flat beds in a 1-2-1 configuration (each with a width of 35 inches), the same product currently available on the carrier's B777-300ER aircraft (see below).

Business class will see the same seat recently introduced on SIA's new A330-300 aircraft (see online news January 2), and will feature a leather lie-flat seat with six-way adjustable headrest and lumbar support.

The economy class cabin will also benefit from refurbishment, with new seat covers designed by Givenchy. In-flight entertainment enhancements will include audio visual on demand in all classes, as well as larger screens in business (15.4 inches) and first class (23 inches).

The first refurbished aircraft will operate on the Singapore-Sydney service (flights SQ231 and SQ232) from July 22, with routes to Dubai, Shanghai, Riyadh and Istanbul due to follow later in the year.

Note that SIA’s B777-300 aircraft are not be confused with the carrier’s B777-300ER fleet, which operate on routes including London-Singapore. These aircraft feature the airline’s spacious fully-flat business class product which is configured 1-2-1 across.

Singapore Airlines has reached an agreement with Airbus to defer thedelivery of eight Airbus A380s that it has on order, by between sixmonths and a year.The Star Alliance member, the launch customerfor the aircraft, has taken delivery of nine A380s. It will receive twomore in the fiscal year that ends 31 March 2010 as scheduled.Underthe revised delivery schedule, however, Airbus will deliver the 12thaircraft in October 2010 rather than April 2010. SIA will receive itslast and 19th aircraft in January 2012 rather than January 2011. Theairline has another 21 A380s on option."This move will help Singapore Airlines to better match capacity to demand during the downturn," says SIA.Itadds that it is satisfied with the operational and commercialperformance of its A380s, which were launched on the Singapore-Sydneyroute nearly two years ago.SIA flies the A380 twice a day toLondon, and daily to Sydney, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong, and startingfrom 29 September to Melbourne as well.